Barbican's Fall/Winter Season Includes Juliette Binoche, National Theatre of Scotland and More

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19 Jun 2012

The fall and winter season at London's Barbican Theatre will include the previously announced run of a new production of Strindberg's Mademoiselle Julie starring Juliette Binoche, the transfer of the National Theatre of Scotland's Enquirer to London, and runs for TR Warszawa's Nosferatu and an RSC, Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Barcelona International Theatre co-production of Calixto Bieito's Forests.

Binoche will star in the Festival d’Avignon production of Mademoiselle Julie, beginning performances Sept. 20 for a run through Sept. 29 only. According to press materials, director Frédéric Fisbach re-imagines the play in a striking contemporary staging and brings together a chorus before whom the intimate drama and ultimate tragedy of the three main protagonists is played out.

Poland's TR Warszawa, who previously brought their productions of 4.48 Pscyhosis and .E.O.R.E.M.A.T. to the Barbican, will return with Grzegorz Jarzyna's production of Nosferatu, which begins performances Oct. 31 for a run through Nov. 3. Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is interpreted here using the vampiric myth of life after death and the regenerative power of blood. Jarzyna uses this psychological and metaphysical thriller to explore the conflict between the fear of the unknown entrenched in human nature and our enduring fascination with dark secrets, obsessions and the need for transgression. It is performed in Polish with English surtitles.

Calixto Bieito's Forests, co-produced by Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Barcelona International Theatre and originally created as part of the World Shakespeare Festival, begins performances Nov. 6 for a run through Nov. 10. It uses original verse from Shakespeare to create a theatrical journey, from the forest of Arden of As You Like It, via Birnam Wood in Macbeth to the bare wilderness of the cliffs of Dover of King Lear. The cast of English and Catalan actors is led by Josep Maria Pou, Roser Camí and George Costigan. It will be performed in both English and Catalan.

The National Theatre of Scotland's production of Enquirer, a site-specific work based on interviews with leading figures in the UK newspaper industry conducted by three journalists, Paul Flynn, Deborah Orr and Ruth Wishart, will transfer to the Barbican, beginning performances Ocet. 3 prior to an official opening Oct. 5, for a run through Oct. 21. Rocked by ongoing allegations of corruption, bribery and other illegal practices, the media becomes the story in this theatrical investigation into the current crisis in newspaper journalism. Co-produced with the London Review of Books, it is is edited and directed by Vicky Featherstone and John Tiffany and co-edited by award-winning novelist and journalist Andrew O’Hagan. The cast includes Maureen Beattie, John Bett, Billy Riddoch, Gabriel Quigley and James Anthony Pearson.

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The Barbican continues to develop its relationship with off-site venues in East London and will present The Finalists, a showcase of new theatre from finalists of the annual Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award, running at Shoreditch Town Hall and other East London venues from Oct. 11-13.

The program also includes Du Goudron et des Plumes presented by circus creators Compagnie MPTA / Mathurin Bolze, running Nov. 28-Dec. 1, and Dutch company Het Filiaal, in Miss Ophelia, running Oct. 31-Nov. 7 in the Barbican Pit. Also in the Pit, live art and experimental theatre group Sleepwalk Collective present As the Flames Rose We Danced to the Sirens, running Nov. 13-17; and Hugh Hughes returns to the Barbican with a new show Stories from an Invisible Town, running Nov. 28-Dec. 8.

Beginning in the Pit foyer, non zero one presents the time out, a personal interactive performance set in the changing room of a swimming pool before a water polo final, running Oct. 23-Nov. 4.

To book tickets, contact the box office on 0845 120 7511, or visit www.barbican.org.uk/theatre for more details.